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stitching-in-time · 2 months

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Voyager rewatch s4 ep9: Year of Hell pt 2

I definitely haven't seen this one since it first aired, because the only things I remember from it were Janeway and Tuvok hugging, and the ship crashing. Literally everything else in this was like new to me, which was completely wild to experience after more than two decades.

Why I didn't rewatch it again in all this time, I don't know- I remember thinking 'ugh' whenever I'd see it on a rerun and flip channels, but it's actually a lot better than I gave it credit for??? Maybe as a kid all the sad, scary stuff the crew goes through just made more of a negative impression on me, and I know I would have been very worried that somebody would get killed off back then. I had a deeper attachment to Star Trek characters than any other shows I watched, so the stakes always felt a little bit higher in Star Trek, versus other shows I didn't care about as much.

But anyway, I was clearly way too young to realize how hot the whole crew was yet, because I didn't remember the part where Chakotay and Tom are aboard the Krenim timeship at all. And oh boy, watching it as an adult? with Tom in that costume with that v-neck top? Incredibly distracting. Like, excuse me sir, how dare you be that pretty?? All tall and blonde and blue eyed with your tousled hair and your unbuttoned shirt?? Illegal levels of hotness!!! go to jail for 1000 years!!!

But aside from making my fangirl brain go brrrr every time Tom appears on screen, I do think the scenes on the ship with the Krenim bad guy, Annorax, were very interesting and well done. We learn that Chakotay and Tom have been held captive there, in solitary confinement, for two months, before Annorax decides to let them out. He brings them to have dinner with him in an attempt to convince them to work with him to help him get his timeline back, and restore Voyager in the process. Tom is pissed off and skeptical, but Chakotay plays it more diplomatically, and tries to hear Annorax out. Annorax does a convincing job of presenting himself as cultured and reasonable, until he tells them that the little feast he's treating them to is actually a macabre repast made up of the last existing delicacies from civilizations he's erased from existence. He tells them how he's been manipulating the timeline with the time weapon on his ship for 200 years, existing outside of normal time, trying to get the calculations right to bring the entire Krenim empire back, like some sort of Flying Dutchman in space. Chakotay and Tom are horrified, and Tom won't hear of helping him, guessing that the only reason Annorax is asking them is because he hasn't been able to find and destroy Voyager yet. He storms out, but Chakotay stays, hoping there might be a way to use the time weapon in a less violent way to accomplish what Annorax proposed.

Meanwhile, back on Voyager, the seven remaining crew members are fighting tooth and claw to keep the ship together, hiding in a nebula to avoid the Krenim and try to repair their failing systems. Janeway, as usual, powers through it all by throwing herself into work, rarely eating or sleeping, risking her life time and again, and ignoring doctor's orders to rest when she gets sick or injured. (She has a rare moment of sentiment when she finds the watch Chakotay gave her still in his quarters, despite her order to recycle it. She doesn't know of he's alive or dead at this point, so she's too moved to be angry, and she picks it up, and puts it on her belt, like a good luck charm.) The Doctor tries to relieve her of command when he thinks she's pushing herself too far, but Janeway hits him with the reality that she can just say no- they have no security officers, they have no brig, no energy for more forcefields- he can't enforce any orders on anyone. He tells her he'll record her refusal in his log, and that she could face a court-martial for disobeying, to which she responds with a wry smile that they'd have to get home before she could ever face a court martial, and she's the one who's going to get them home, by continuing to work. Even making it out alive to face a court martial would be nice for her, compared to what they're going through. She walks off, leaving the Doctor to contemplate his abstract principles, while she, as always, is forced by necessity to do the real, hard work to hold things together and shoulder the responsibilty for the ship and crew, alone.

Back on the Krenim ship, Chakotay works with Annorax to learn how to use his time weapon, and Tom buddies up to the crew, trying to gather what info he can from them that might be useful against Annorax. He tells Chakotay the crew are unhappy in their endless mission, and that they could be convinced to mutiny against Annorax with their help. Chakotay says no, and wants to try to use the time weapon, which Tom disagrees with, and they come pretty close to having a fistfight over it, since Tom (rightly) thinks Annorax is a maniac, and that Chakotay has been swayed over to Annorax's side. Whether Chakotay actually has been swayed or not is kind of open to interpretation- Annorax certainly was giving him a lot of seductive speeches about what an art form the manipulation of time can be, and Chakotay seems to earnestly believe he can find a way to use it for good. And if he was actually just playing a long game, and trying to earn Annorax's trust so they can get the better of him, he absolutely should have told that to Tom, rather than letting him think he's sympathizing with the enemy, and thus giving him a good reason to not follow his orders. At any rate, Chakotay seems to finally realize that Annorax is a madman who can't be reasoned with once he learns that his centuries of meddling with the timeline stem from accidentally erasing his own family in one of his attacks, and that everything he's been doing has been a desperate attempt to get them back. They watch in horror as he uses the time weapon to erase an entire planet, and Tom finally convinces Chakotay to go with his plan. Tom gets his Krenim friend to let him send a message to Voyager, and to help them shut down the time weapon so Voyager can attack.

By the time Voyager receives Tom's message, Janeway has assembled a small fleet of allies to stand against the Krenim- Voyager is nearly crippled, so she sends the rest of the crew to the alien ships, and stays behind on Voyager to coordinate the attack that now has a fighting chance, thanks to Tom's help. This is the scene I always remember, of Tuvok attempting to convince Janeway not to stay on a compromised Voyager to die. But Janeway waxes poetic about how a captain always goes down with the ship, and how Voyager is more than just a ship, it's their home, a part of their family that she can't abandon. Tuvok knows her too well to argue, so he gives her a Vulcan salute, and accepts a hug from her in return. Her face as he returns her embrace for one rare and probably final time, when she almost breaks down as she says goodbye to him, only to snap herself back to composure, to send him away in order to do what she has to do, is an absolutely devastating moment, and an incredibly subtle piece of acting from Kate Mulgrew.

Even standing alone on her wrecked ship, battered and filthy, with Chakotay's watch tucked into her belt, Janeway still exudes the air of a Captain, and leads the charge to the Krenim ship. (Which looks so much like Babylon 5! I honestly have to wonder whether it was intentional- I can't imagine anyone working on Star Trek wouldn't have been aware of that show, or what their space station looked like. Though whether it was a nod to them or a dig at them, I don't know.)

As soon as Annorax sees Voyager, he wants to destroy it, but his second in command holds fire long enough for Tom to take the time weapon offline. Even with regular weapons, Voyager is too damaged to fight back, so Janeway decides if she's going down, she'll take them with her. Only Kate Mulgrew could sell that incredibly cheesy 'time's up' line with so much conviction that I buy it completely. I get why her whole crew would die for her- I would die for her too. If you watch this show and still say you wouldn't die for her, you're lying. Janeway supremacy forever <3

Somehow, Janeway figures that taking out the timeship might reset the timeline, so she has her ships disengage their temporal shielding and rams Voyager into the Krenim ship, destoying them both.

And the timeline resets!! How? I have no idea! How did she know that would happen? I also have no idea! Would it have been nice if that theory were introduced into the script earlier, and played with a bit more so it didn't seem like a crazy last minute add-on that was too convenient to be true? Yeah! Am I mad enough about it that I'm gonna complain about it too much? No! Do I just enjoy the badass ferocity of Janeway ramming her ship into a bad guy's ship to save millions of lives, even if she has to risk her own to do it? HELL YEAH!!!

So we end up back on Voyager before the Year of Hell began- everything is pristine and lovely, and the crew is looking forward to their little opening celebration for the new astrometrics lab. A Krenim hails them, gives them a friendly warning that their territory is in dispute, and recommends going around their space for safety. Janeway thanks him, and sets a course to avoid their space. They go on their merry way, never knowing the year they endured in another timeline.

And the last scene is of Annorax, back at home, with his wife, going over his time manipulation research, and ignoring her until she insists the research can wait, and that he should have breakfast with her. He agrees, but his research is still there, and it's a chilling thought that without knowing the 200 years he spent trying to fix his mistake, he might make it all over again one day. (But seriously, in 200 years, he didn't figure out that blowing his ship up would reset the timeline and bring his wife back?! Like that's literally all he had to do?! But Janeway guessed that correctly in one split second hunch?! Not the best writing in the world, but hell, I'll give it a pass because Janeway badassery! I love you, my captain!!! No thoughts, just Janeway!!!)

Tl;dr: The ending wasn't as strong as the beginning, but it was an exciting ride, with some really fine moments. I won't be waiting another 20 some years to rewatch this again, I can tell you that!

#star trek: voyager #voyager rewatch #rewatching star trek #star trek voyager #star trek #captain janeway

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thegeminisage · 1 month

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STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "concerning flight" and ds9's "statistical probabilities."

concerning flight (voy):

this one sucked sooo bad this was the second-worst of season 4 so far after the racist one with chakotay in the woods

the sad thing is that as a bit character i really liked gimli i mean leonardo. it's one of only like a tiny handful of times when i didn't mind the holodeck as like a background device. so naturally we have to ruin it by giving him his own episode

yes he is a good actor. you saw gimli in him before he gimli'd. he didn't need his own episode because it didn't make any goddamn sense

firstly, playing the doctor losing his holo-emitter for laughs was MEEEAN please treat him very niceys. secondly, what was with that racist remark at tuvok...come on

like, whatever emotional arc janeway was supposed to be having about her childhood hero giving up on his dreams and then building the flying machine after all was lost under the weird pirate adventure that was boring and bad

all love and light to tuvok, whomst i love, whose outfit was perfect, but i think it was a bad idea to bring him along because what he did was point out how illogical the situation was in order for the writers to justify it, which they failed to do. there was no good reason to keep the hologram out when the emitter was needed on the ship except that janeway wanted to hang out with him

also, character assassination to say that tuvok wouldn't slay at small talk. he's very cunning and last episode he tricked the ao3 black market people into thinking he wanted to buy problematic fanfic but now he can't rustle up a distraction for a hologram??? come on

i did like seven in this episode. her moment with the emh was so good i love that she and b'elanna are like regularly almost coming to blows. but then pretty much all of seven's scenes are good

maybe this episode helped this guy get gimli...a small price to pay i suppose but sheesh

statistical probabilities (ds9):

WAH............................nobody look at me

i spent the first 15 or however many minutes of this episode going "boy this sure is heavy-handed commentary" and then we got to the scene where julian and obrien are playing darts and he's raving about how wonderful they are when they are some of the most horrifically offputting characters that have ever been on genuinely had me welling up

like maybe............sometimes people who are offputting and weird in an unpleasant way...............deserve to be shown compassion and understanding and deserve to connect with people who genuinely think they're cool. as someone who experienced the social consequences of being a weird and offputting child i love that this episode said with chest WEIRD OFFPUTTING PEOPLE HAVE PERSONHOOD AND RIGHTS!!!!!!!! good for them and good for me. i love to feel an earnest human emotion while watching star trek. that's probably the most authentic was to experience it

like forget all that shit about the war and surrendering. that was stupid. they presented us with like a handful of people who felt extremely difficult to care about and then julian cared about them and then we cared about them and by the end they seemed very charming in their own weird ways. you could stand this in for like autism, being ND, being disabled, whatever, but it's such a smart and good way to 1. illustrate julians compassion and 2. teach us that same compassion. for them. for ourselves. dont worry about it!!!!!!!

even though i thought the plot where they predicted the end of the war and tried to betray the federation was dumb (are we backtracking all that good work and making a point that autistic people/ND people/disabled people/etc ARE dangerous after all and should not be allowed in society?? come on), i DID like that it sort of touched on and played with development missing from the initial episode where we found out about julian being genetically modified

like, firstly that he got to go jesus christ i fucking lucked out SO good like what was done to me was horrible but at least i am able to pass in society and the privileges i got afforded as a result were MASSIVE compared to these people kept in an institute with very few personal freedoms who quite literally cannot function alone and whose living situations are actively making their various conditions WORSE

but secondly that he got to say aloud "yeah the reason they don't let us do stuff is because we could turn out like khan!" and believe that with his whole pussy (which shows that he HAS believed that for awhile) and then he gets to question his belief when they all do something good together. and like yeah in the end he has to sit back and go jesus christ like FOUR PEOPLE almost handed over the entire alpha quadrant to the enemy on a platter we ARE dangerous after all better send those fuckers back to the looney bin which i think negates the point of the episode somewhat but i do like that it gives him angst and problems. mwah.

like, i'd be lying if i said i'd be happy if his khan fears got cured in a single episode. live with that. marinate in it. have psychological problems about it. go have a deep space talk with garak about it and get him to work it out of you with his d--

TONIGHT: voy's "the mortal coil" and ds9's "the magnificent ferengi" both of which, love and light, look awful. manifesting strength.

#personal #star trek blogging #voy lb #ds9 lb

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nebulouscoffee · 1 year

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for the ask game star trek voyager!!

Thank you sm friend! I already answered a couple of these, but the great thing about being very indecisive is I can give different answers each time <3

Favourite character: B'Elanna Torres, although Kathryn Janeway is a close second (I do have a Janeway-themed url, after all😌)

Second favourite character: okay, I'll talk about Janeway here! Gosh what a deeply flawed individual. She's awesome, and yes, incredibly charismatic and badass, but she's also haunted, complex, and scarily capable of hurting those closest to her (which she does. Like, a lot.) She ends up in charge of a seemingly endless mission, and she cannot afford to crack- not in front of her crew, and not even really in secret- so she begins this seven-year process of what basically amounts to dehumanising herself. Her arc is almost like a long-form merging with Voyager the ship- she is Voyager, and Voyager is her! She will protect her crew and bring them home. She will ensure they get to survive. (What happens to her? Well, she knows she can and will never be the same, but she can't and doesn't think about that right now). She made a mistake and her crew paid the price and the guilt of this eats at her every day, but she cannot afford to acknowledge it or she'll go insane. She tries so hard to stick to her principles but once she's violated a few she starts thinking of her soul as this already-corrupted thing- she knows she can live with it, so why not do something else that's a bit messed up! Better me than any of my crew, right! Like- no wonder she couldn't move on with her life once Voyager reached the Alpha Quadrant in the Endgame timeline. No wonder she had to travel back in time to die in the past. She is so changed by the events of this show that the past the only place she can truly belong. Ugh!!!! I have so many feelings about her!!

Least favourite character: I dislike voyager!Q so much I actually skip all his episodes on rewatch lmao. And I'm someone who actually quite enjoys him on TNG! He's this all-powerful all-knowing omnipotent being who could literally be off anywhere any time doing anything he wanted, and yet he chooses to keep coming back to this one starship just to flirt with the most boring man alive. He literally got kicked out of the Q Continuum for having too much of a hyperfixation on his blorbo. That's funny! And compelling! Unfortunately the Voyager writers did not understand what made this work and decided his only trait was *irritates everybody* (including the audience lol). What he and Picard had was a funny back and forth, a snarky Quodo-style "these horrible old men deserve each other" rivalry. What he and Janeway have is sexual harassment played for laughs 🙃

The character I'm most like: Kes - I went into more detail here :)

Favourite pairing: B7 if we're talking non-canon ships! From canon, uhhhh I guess whatever was going on between Janeway and Chakotay in 'Resolutions' & Tom/B'Elanna before they got together

Least favourite pairing: I don't know if I have one? C7 is the popular answer but I literally straight up forget it exists because it's such a small part of the show, like it doesn't even show up for reals until the finale. I'm not a fan of the way they wrote Tom/B'Elanna for basically all of S5 and S6, and the damage control they did in S7 wasn't bad imo but also felt too little too late. I also dislike Kes/Neelix, though I do think it had potential to be a really interesting breakup arc lol

Favourite moment: That scene from 'Year of Hell' where Janeway has given the order to abandon ship and everyone else is so reluctant to desert the bridge and it looks soooo banged up but she still won't abandon it.... and then Tuvok gives her that hug goodbye..... and she glances at that little gift Chakotay made for her which she didn't have the heart to recycle..... and she talks about what Voyager means to her, and why she has to go down with the ship...... my heart😭

Rating out of 10: Objectively an 8/10, I think the early seasons are GREAT and around midway through they do sort of run out of ideas thanks to their commitment to being as episodic as possible and sidelining more than half the main cast as well as refusing to let the guest cast build up or develop. The show genuinely suffers for it imo! There's a lot of wasted potential, as well as biases of the time that prevented it from reaching true heights- I also wholeheartedly think this show ruined the Borg lol, now 75% more human and 200% less intimidating! However it's also got so many positives- I adore all the main characters so much, and the premise itself gives me so many feels that in my heart it's an 11/10🥰

#to be clear when I say voyager ruined the Borg I'm not talking about seven's journey learning to reclaim her life #that stuff is great #I'm talking about the instances where the ship would actually come into conflict with the Borg #I think that should've happened two times on the whole show max. Every appearance decreased their mystique and made them more human imo #it's the same with the q continuum! by the end of voy they're basically just another typical species & they don't even have forehead ridges #the more appearances you give a species that's meant to be non-corporeal/deeply alien the more human (and boring) they will become #this 100% would've happened to the prophets too if that show had gone on longer btw. imo at least #anyway that's a tangent lol #thanks again for the ask! :)#ask game

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phantom-le6 · 1 year

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: Voyager Season 5 (6 of 7)

Episode 21: Juggernaut

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

As Tuvok attempts to teach B'Elanna Torres meditation to calm her violent tendencies, Voyager detects escape pods from a damaged Malon freighter. As they rescue two surviving Malon, they learn that the freighter, transporting deadly radioactive waste, is set to explode in a few hours, which would destroy everything within 3 light years. Unable to clear the potential explosion in time due to theta radiation from the freighter preventing warp speed, Captain Janeway orders Voyager towards the freighter, planning to bring the ship's containment system back on line to contain the explosion in time.

The surviving Malon, Fesek and Pelk, work with Voyager's crew to determine how to effect repairs as fast as possible. Most of the decks of the Malon freighter are flooded with radiation, and to reach the control deck, they will need to vent the radiation from each deck prior to entering. Chakotay, Torres, and Neelix join Fesek and Pelk on the freighter. As they work, Pelk is attacked and killed by some creature, which he claims is "the Vihaar". Fesek explains this is a type of legend among Malon waste disposal crews and isn’t real. Torres is angered to learn from Fesek how little the Malon seem to value life beyond their own society, but keeps her anger in check.

During one deck evacuation, the deck they are on is exposed to the vacuum of space; Voyager is forced to transport Chakotay back but the others escape to the next deck. Torres continues to lead the group towards the control deck. Meanwhile, Tuvok offers Janeway a backup plan, nudging the trajectory of the freighter towards a nearby star, such that the theta radiation would be contained within its corona. The away team finally reaches the command centre and attempt to re-energize the containment fields. They are attacked by the same creature that killed Pelk; the supposed Vihaar, in actuality one of the ship's core workers heavily deformed by the theta radiation. He knocks Fesek and Neelix unconscious and attempts to alter the freighter's course. Torres tries to talk the creature down, and when this fails, she attacks him with all her rage, giving her enough time to secure the area and allow Voyager to transport her and the others aboard before the freighter explodes harmlessly within the star’s corona. Afterwards, Torres takes a sonic shower while vividly remembering her attack on the Vihaar, suggesting the experience is haunting her.

Review:

Episodes going into B’Elanna’s anger issues are a bit of a waste of time by this point in the series. We know B’Elanna has a temper, so we don’t get any character development from it. The closest we get to that here is when she reveals being bullied for her Klingon heritage due to her being of mixed parentage is her earliest memory of anger. This has some slight value as a possible issue exploration point; it shows that someone getting upset for being subject to such prejudice is a valid response, highlights the issues face by people who are of mixed race, etc. However, the moment is too brief and is quickly swallowed by the Malon, who don’t give us anything beyond a mix of action and thriller for the rest of the episode.

As a result, I don’t tend to rate “Juggernaut” too highly. There are better episodes prior to this for showcasing B’Elanna’s anger issues, and a very good episode in the show’s final season in relation to mixed race acceptance issues. Really, this episode is just so much filler and a token B’Elanna episode amid a Janeway-and-Seven-heavy season. For me, it only warrants about 4 out of 10.

Episode 22: Someone To Watch Over Me

Plot (as given by me):

While Captain Janeway and Tuvok go to visit the Kadi as part of a trade mission, and Neelix is placed in charge of a Kadi Ambassador, Seven of Nine has begun researching human dating by observing Tom Paris and B’Elanna Torres. However, Seven isn’t particularly discreet or tactful, angering B’Elanna in the process. First Janeway and then the Doctor suggest that Seven might want to change her study methods into trying dating first-hand, and the Doctor opts to prepare some social skill lessons on the subject. Meanwhile, Neelix struggles with the Kadi Ambassador, Tobin, who abandons his strict religious schedule to indulge in Voyager’s culture, at times to excess.

When Paris learns about the Doctor’s efforts to help Seven with dating behaviour, he makes fun, and points out that the Doctor’s approach of using the holodeck is flawed. There, the odds are in Seven’s favour because her dating partner can always be programmed to respond well; the real world is another matter. Baited by Paris, the Doctor makes a wager with him; if Seven can get a date for Tobin’s reception and leave with that same date without any mishap, Paris will double-up on duty shifts in sickbay for a month. If she can’t do this, then Paris gets a month without any sickbay shifts.

As the lessons with Seven progress, expanding to developing her singing skills as part of cultivating an interest in music, the Doctor begins to develop an attraction to Seven. An attempt at a preliminary date with another crewmember goes awry because Seven’s enhanced strength causes a couple of mishaps. Reassuring her, the Doctor steps in and later asks Seven to be his date to the reception. At the event, Seven learns of the wager and storms off, and Tobin collapses due to synthahol intoxication.

The Doctor learns the Kadi lack an enzyme required to metabolise synthahol, meaning that Tobin will remain intoxicated unless something is done. Seven suggests reprogramming some of her nanoprobes to perform the function of the missing enzymes, and while Neelix knows the Kadi don’t approve of unsanctified medical practices, he also can’t risk anything upsetting the trade mission with the Kadi. While the Doctor and Seven treat Tobin, the Doctor apologises to her about the bet with Paris, and assures her that his interest was always primarily in helping her for her sake, not for his personal gain.

The trade deal between the Kadi and Voyager goes through ok, with Tobin’s superiors none the wiser concerning his recent excesses, while the Doctor resolves to tell Seven how he feels about her. Before he can, however, she comes to him to thank him for the dating lessons, and informs him she won’t be pursuing them further for now as she believes there are no potential matches for her on the ship. The Doctor takes this with a decent poker face, but then reactivates the Chez Sandrine’s holo-program he used for the dating lessons and begins singing “Someone to watch over me”.

Review:

As a rule, I’m not big on sitting through social awkwardness in TV and films, and once I know it’s present in a given film or TV episode, I will fast-forward past it whenever watching by myself. As such, this is an episode I’m very inclined to go for the fast-forward button on. This is because I struggle enough not to get into these situations in my real life due to my autism. Naturally, I don’t like seeing the same kind of thing in my entertainment choices because more often than not, I want to escape my real life when I delve into fiction, not get reminded of it. That being said, this episode is a bit of an interesting one when dealing with how autistic people might or might not best go about adult relationships, due to the autism-like characteristics within Seven and the Doctor.

Both the Doctor and Seven struggle with social skills and the “unwritten rules” of social interaction, with the Doctor only being slightly ahead of Seven because he’s been developing his own social skills for longer. This is where their autism-like traits come in, and certainly the initial incident where Seven is caught observing Tom and B’Elanna like animals in a nature preserve seems like a very likely autistic thing to do. Remember, I am autistic myself, so I’m saying that as someone with first-hand experience, not the second-hand knowledge of neurotypicals that study autism or live with autistic friends or family. Obviously, the action isn’t quite appropriate, but while I commend Janeway and the Doctor for not preventing Seven’s further exploration, I don’t think their suggested course of action is entirely right either.

It's a huge leap to go from vicarious research to practical dating, but at least the Doctor has the initial sense to come up with an intermediate stage between the two, namely practicing on the holo-deck first. It’s a pity such technology doesn’t exist in real life; the closest you might get is either a simulator game or role play in social skills lessons. The former could be too limited and insufficiently immersive, while for me the latter has never felt convincing enough to work for anything. For me, social interaction can’t be practiced by roleplay because it’s too blatantly fake to work.

Unfortunately, almost everything after this is a “how not to do things” approach. First, Seven points out at various stages that what she’s being shown doesn’t quite suit her, and while at times the Doctor is right to reframe things to push through, he doesn’t listen enough to Seven’s feedback. His efforts are almost always on getting Seven to be less like herself, which is not unlike the way a lot of my social skills lessons used to run. In fact, considering that in life I am almost always forced to adapt around others and the same is seldom ever true of others, I would say that this is part of the subtle but real anti-autistic attitude of the real world. The Doctor should have considered tailoring things more to suit Seven and less towards making her act like everyone else. She isn’t everyone else; she is Seven of Nine, and that is who she should be, even if that means her preferred small talk is more like what others consider weighty discussion.

Next, we come to the bet. Paris’ mockery of Seven is even more analogous to real life anti-autistic behaviour, and making a bet on Seven failing at romance just adds to his idiocy. The Doctor, while clearly taking up the bet as a defence of Seven’s ability, still should not have done so. That said, it would be quite like an autistic person to fail to resist such needling and take on such a bet, which shows up the Doctor’s own autistic-like nature. As such, I have nothing but respect for Seven when she calls the Doctor out for his behaviour.

When Seven later opts out of dating altogether, I gain even more respect for her. Yes, the Doctor made an error and I empathise with him getting pre-emptively rejected, but in more recent years, I too have abandoned dating. For me, the decision is motivated by the fact that full-time work plus a committed romance equal too much time socialising for an autistic person like myself. For me, dating would only be viable if I came into a huge store of money that enabled me to either work part-time or eliminate the need for a regular job, thereby freeing up the energy needed to interact with a romantic partner. For Seven, the reasoning is a supposed lack of suitable partners, but as my fellow fans are doubtless aware, this won’t remain the case.

The only thing that might have improved the episode, aside from taking out a lot of the social awkwardness, would be if Seven abandoned dating because that simply didn’t work for her as a method of finding romance. My own reasons for abandoning dating go beyond not having the time to commit to yet more social interaction with others. Unlike in the world of Trek, real-world dating almost always involves a financial element, and I’ve become increasingly concerned about the notion that a date could be more interested in my wallet than in me. Seven is actually lucky to try dating in the world of Trek because it’s a world where money doesn’t apply. Dating is also poor in terms of relationship definition; how many dates are required before you become a formal couple? At what point do you cease entertaining other partners and just focus on each other, assuming you want to go down the monogamous route rather than an open or polyamorous one?

These kinds of questions always seem to hang like a huge question mark over dating with no absolute rules, depending on discussions that in most cases probably never happen. To me, the superior strategy would always be direct discussion and direct entry into whatever relationship you seek, minus the constant financial outpouring and ill-definition of dating. It’s unlikely to happen in the neurotypical-centric world we have, I know, but it has the predictability an autistic person thrives on, so at the very least it should be explored by those autistics seeking adult relationships, whether with other autistics or with neurotypicals. In turn, the wider world should accept this and at least tolerate it if not engage with it. It’s the same sort of approach that’s generally recommended for more casual relationships like friends-with-benefits, and I think the world needs to see it more in romantic relationships as well.

Beyond all this, the episode is nicely free of the usual mindless action remit of the show, and I suppose there might be some minor amusement to be rung from the B-plot with Neelix. Overall, and despite the autism exploration the episode hits with its attempt to do ‘My Fair Lady’ in the Delta Quadrant, I give this episode 7 out of 10. The social awkwardness coming out and something about “there’s more to relationships than dating” would have got this episode up to top marks for me, but alas we’re nowhere near.

Episode 23: 11:59

Plot (as given by me):

A trivia competition between Neelix and Tom Paris brings up the subject of Captain Janeway’s ancestor Shannon O’Donnell. According to Janeway family lore, O’Donnell was one of the first women astronauts and was heavily involved in the various Mars missions of the 21st century. In addition, she was supposed to have been instrumental to getting the Millennium Gate project underway despite heavy opposition. A series of flashbacks to the end of the year 2000 tell the real story, which Janeway and her crew begin to discover in the present day of the series.

O’Donnell became stranded in Portage Creek, Indiana in late December 2000 due to car trouble. Currently without a job, she was taken in by book store owner Henry Janeway and his son Jason. Henry was the lone opposition to the Millennium Gate, as building the project meant having to sell his bookstore for what he believed was just a glorified shopping mall. In reality, the project was an experimental artificial bio-sphere, the first attempt at developing the technology that, in Trek history, became instrumental in colonising the solar system. The project did possess a retail aspect as well, as the community housed in the biosphere would need retail outlets to acquire food and goods.

O’Donnell was offered a job role on the project, provided she could convince Henry to change his mind. When she mentioned this to him, the pair argued and O’Donnell left. However, she quickly changed her mind, returning and convincing Henry to change his mind. The pair had formed an attraction, and by staying, O’Donnell could pursue that while also working on the project, and she could help Henry get a new shop to sell his books within the bio-sphere. As a result, the Millennium Gate project went ahead at the last minute, with Shannon O’Donnell later marrying Henry Janeway and beginning the family line that ultimately resulted in Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Back in the show’s present-day, Neelix cheers up the captain with help from the others by creating a new holiday; Ancestors’ Eve, an evening of reflections on a person’s ancestors. Janeway is initially reluctant, as Shannon O’Donnell hadn’t done all her family claimed she had. However, Seven of Nine points out that since O’Donnell inspired Janeway to become a Star Fleet officer and made her who she now is, that impact renders the accuracy of the historical narrative “irrelevant.”

Review:

While this episode could have been done as something exploring the idea of revisionist history, and is apparently intended as an example of how history can be misinterpreted, it doesn’t really work on either count. On the first, Seven makes an argument at the end that Janeway seemingly buys about “historical detail being irrelevant.” This is where the episode’s potential for revisionism comes in, because Seven is encouraging Janeway to just take history as she wants it to be, not as it is. This is the basic essence of revisionist history, and flies right in the face of Picard’s speech about the importance of truth back in the TNG episode ‘The First Duty’. Frankly, it’s good that Seven isn’t Star Fleet, otherwise she’d deserve a Gibbs slap for that remark.

As for the second point, that of historical misinterpretation, the flashbacks are so tightly focused on a few days, whereas the events in the present-day of the show discuss a wider span of history. We should have gotten a wider net of past scenes, almost akin to the TNG episode ‘The Inner Light’, showing Shannon O’Donnell’s life over many years, and that would have made the point better. Instead, we’re virtually laser-focused on these few days, and with so little happening in the show’s main time-frame, it gets a bit boring. Episodes like this and ‘Course: Oblivion’ really put me off, because all they do is waste time on fakes or figures of the past that aren’t our main characters and don’t really develop them much. For O’Donnell to do that with Janeway, Janeway would have had to go back and witness the events, or relive them as O’Donnell, or else put the focus more on Janeway than her ancestor.

As a result, we get another waste of time filler episode like we did with Juggernaut. 3 out of 10 for this one.

Episode 24: Relativity

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

A 29th century Starfleet vessel, the timeship Relativity, is attempting to stop the detonation of a temporal disruptor planted on Voyager during its travel through the Delta Quadrant in the 24th century, which is causing a time paradox. Captain Braxton and his crew are unable to detect where on Voyager the explosive is located, so they recruit Seven of Nine, pulling her out of the time stream moments before Voyager's destruction, as her enhanced Borg visual sensors can aid in the device's detection. Seven is sent back in time, disguised as a Starfleet ensign, to the point where Voyager is still in drydock prior to her maiden voyage and being inspected by Captain Janeway. Janeway detects Seven's anomalous presence just as Seven locates the bomb. Relativity recalls Seven before she is discovered, but the travel through time kills her on return.

Knowing where the bomb is located, Relativity recalls a slightly earlier version of Seven, and after explaining the scenario, sends her back again, now to a point where Voyager has been pulled into the Delta Quadrant and fighting the Kazon, prior to when Seven had joined its crew. Seven's presence is discovered by Voyager, and she is captured; Janeway recognizes her from drydock. Seven explains the situation to Janeway, and together they locate the device, discovering that it was planted by a future version of Braxton himself.

Seven is able to jump back in time to try to stop Braxton from planting the device, but he escapes to the day that Voyager would be destroyed. Seven follows, but the stress of time travel has taken its toll on her body. Nevertheless, she is able to warn the Voyager crew of the problem and to apprehend Braxton. The crew of the Relativity, having taken their Braxton into custody as well, recruit a version of Janeway like they did with Seven, and send her back to the past at the Kazon attack, where she is able to secure Braxton before he can plant the device. The crew of Relativity pull the time travellers back to their present, re-integrating the various copies with themselves. It is learned that Braxton, after the events of ‘Future's End’, had to spend several years in rehabilitation before being reassigned for duty, and started to blame Voyager for all the problems that he encountered as they patrolled the timestream, seeing its destruction as a means to end his suffering. Lieutenant Ducane, one of Braxton's officers, sends Janeway and Seven back to their proper time streams, allowing them to retain their memories of the events but ordering them never to discuss them with anyone.

Review:

Time-travel and action for the sake of time-travel and action, plus Seven put in the centre ring because hey, it’s Seven. That’s really all you need to say to sum this episode up; it doesn’t even attempt to develop any characters or discuss any issues. It’s well-preformed, not a waste of time dealing with irrelevant characters like the last episode did, and seeing Seven in a Star Fleet uniform and minus implants is nice for a change. However, it’s still hollow by design as Trek episodes go, so it only rates 4 out of 10 for me.

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shesquaredpodcast · 3 years

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As I’m rewatching however, it is even more blatant that Janeway and Seven were supposed to be a couple. In the span of two episodes which I ADORE (4.14 and 4.15) when they receive the transmission from Starfleet after Seven sees she can get a message to the Alpha quadrant using the Dr - all of it is laid out.

When Starfleet sends the message “You’re no longer alone” and the camera focuses in on Janeway - it’s really showing that she is absolutely who is carrying this on her shoulders. All of it. The strain, the worry, the unknown of if she’ll ever get these people home. She’s doing her job and suddenly- they’re not alone anymore. It was a beautiful moment.

But let’s go further. Exploring in the Delta quadrant seemed nonsensical to Seven specifically and she said so to Janeway.

“Keep on course to the Alpha Quadrant and stop being delayed” and you’ll be more likely to be successful and Janeway told her it was their way to explore, but truthfully doing so was the only thing - the only stability they knew.

Basically - If they focus on being lost that’s all they’ll ever be. But if they are exploring and cataloging and making first contact then they still have a semblance of normalcy.

Janeway can’t allow herself to accept that they are doing anything other than that; that they are anything but on a deep space mission because otherwise … she can’t accept the despair.

Janeway NEEDED VOYAGER to be a ship of exploration just as much as the crew did because otherwise it was all about them probably not making it home all the time. How far away they were would be the primary focus not secondary or tertiary. It’d be all they focused on.

Seven’s primary drive and singular goal in 4.14 and 4.15 is getting back to the Alpha quadrant. It’s it. That’s all she’s focused on. B’Elanna calls her a bitch basically, scoffs that she’s now “giving orders” when she excitedly demands Janeway and Chakotay come to Astrometrics, and she’s called blatantly rude and all kinds of things by B’elanna but she refused to leave her post.

She flat out refused to leave her post in Astrometrics. She did it not because she had someone in the Alpha quadrant to get back to - she refused to leave her post (4.14) and missed appts in sickbay because she was clearing up messages from the relay from Starfleet command (15) NOT because she cared about it herself. But because Janeway did. She didn’t sleep in days. 58 hrs. She did that because she cared about someone - someone who needed someone to care about her.

She retrieved 6 words in 58 hrs.

58 hours straight.

And she got excited when she got the 6th word. When the doctor snarkily questioned the logic of that excitement, she angrily replied, “This message is important to the Captain.”

As if that is all the explanation needed. Because it WAS.

And when Janeway comes into Astrometrtics right after and Seven tells her what the messages may be containing, she demonstrates a moment of trust and says, “Well I might just hope that it contains a plan for bringing us back to the Alpha quadrant.”

This kind of hope was the very thing Janeway had just chastised her closest people for daydreaming about and then she proceeded to immediately state what she was holding hope for. She immediately let her guard down and spoken openly about her own desires and hopes.

To Seven.

Seven fought tooth and nail to get 6 words of text in 58 hrs - not sleeping a wink to do so because it was “important to the Captain”. Let that sink in.

Now we know why Seven was so persistent.

LITERALLY in the same episode, when Seven volunteers to go forth and try to retrieve messages from Starfleet and people’s families because they have to get closer to the relay, Janeway sends tuvok with her. This causes Seven to believe that Janeway may be distrustful of her still, and after everything she’s been doing to show she cares, she can’t take it.

She straight up asks Tuvok if Janeway doesn’t trust her once she establishes he won’t lie to her.

His response is the ONLY thing that gives her comfort.

WHY?!

Tuvok wants to know that exact thing and asks her why Janeway’s opinion is so important to her and she gives him a bs reason about the Captain’s opinion being important to everyone, right? He merely looks skeptical.

Remember that TUVOK IS TELEPATHIC. He knows these feelings already. This is now the second time he has commented to Seven that she is expressing affection and trust and distress over the Captain.

And once again they parallel Tom and B’Elanna and Seven and Janeway.

Seven and B’Elanna, who both have NO ONE back home to be working furiously towards getting a letter from, literally work tirelessly to download the messages and Tom and Janeway both get messages they don’t want. It’s blatant.

Want more? Tom and Janeway both confide in B’Elanna and Seven in Astrometrics about their feelings. Now RIGHT after that Janeway tells the truth of her letter to Chakotay - not sharing her hopes, only her truth and disappointment. That’s ALSO exactly what Tom does, too.

And since Janeway and Chakotay were 100% built to be confidants and intimate with each other - what can we infer when the only other person Janeway does that with is Seven?

Finally, Janeway straight up says in ep 15 that she was using Mark as a safety net to avoid becoming involved with someone else. She flat out says that to Chakotay.

Someone who maybe was showing her devotion and concern by pushing her own self to the very limits?

Just like Janeway?

This is when Janeway/Seven began.

#j7 #n lance rewatches voyager #janeway x seven of nine #seven x janeway #janeway x seven #janeway/seven #janeway/seven thoughts

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nonbinaryhatboxghost · 4 years

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So, I finished watching Star Trek: Voyager. (spoilers throughout)

I started watching the show a couple of years ago, and I remember being impressed at how solid its pilot was. Star Trek shows (in my experience) have a history of starting out a bit rough before figuring themselves out, and it felt like Voyager had a pretty solid identity figured out right from the get-go.

But while I have loved watching the show as a whole, it felt like it went through multiple identity crises along the way.

It’s frustrating because the show contains the best depiction of the weight of being in the captain’s chair out of any Star Trek story I have ever seen. Janeway herself is just a great character in general, but getting moments like the finale of “Tuvix” or literally any scene in “Year of Hell” go much further in depicting the effect of leadership on our lead character than one would expect in a Trek show.

Over the course of my viewing of Voyager, I noticed that I tended to respond more to darker episodes than others. “Meld”, in which Tuvok mind-melds with a serial killer Betazoid played by the great Brad Dourif, is one example. “Mortal Coil”, in which Neelix experiences a crisis of faith after a death experience, is another favorite. And while I am indeed a sucker for a quality dark Trek story, the main reason that I believe I favored these kinds of episodes was because they felt like they had an impact on the characters.

Most of the blockbuster two-parters over the course of the show didn’t really stick with me, despite some very fun premises. And it’s because, with the exception of “Scorpion”, most of these two-parters tended to resolve in a way that completely undid any semblance of consequence on future episodes.

The most egregious example of this is the ending of “Year of Hell”, a two-parter that began development as a premise for the entirety of Season 4, but was rejected by producer Rick Berman and downgraded to two-parter instead. While I had pacing issues with the episodes due to sensing the abbreviated nature of a lot of the subplots, I overall really liked the story and seeing the crew of Voyager having to endure so much. Not because I wanted to see them suffer, but because I wanted to see stories that conveyed their journey home would have an impact on them. So when “Year of Hell” ends with a timeline reset that completely eradicates all of the events of the two-parter, I felt cheated. Because it is a cheat.

When Voyager did a similar time travel reset for their 100th episode, “Timeless”, in which a future Chakotay and Harry pull some shenanigans to prevent Voyager from crashing into an ice planet, that story successfully had its cake and ate it by having our present-day crew be aware of the future Harry and Chakotay’s actions. The episode ends with a shocked present-day Harry watching a video message from his now-dead future self.

When I finally got around to the series finale, “Endgame”, all I knew to expect was another time travel story. I have no issues with time travel in Star Trek. It’s possibly overused, but I never get tired of it because more often than not, Trek knows how to find the fun in whichever story they use that device in. I enjoyed the first half of “Endgame” and its depiction of our crew’s future lives back on Earth. I liked seeing Admiral Janeway go rogue in order to time travel back to the Voyager crew that we’ve been following throughout most of the show. And as purposely-but-still-strangely jarring as it was to see Admiral Janeway try to prioritize Captain Janeway and the crew over defeating the Borg, I really liked their scenes together as well as Admiral Janeway’s confrontation, defeat, and death with the Borg Queen. (who is suddenly played by Alice Krige again in the finale after being played by Susanna Thompson in previous Voyager episodes. I was happy to see her but a bit confused after the show seemed to indicate that Thompson was meant to be Borg Queen 2.0, only to have our original Queen from First Contact return)

Then the last few minutes happen. The Borg are quickly dispatched, Voyager makes it back to the Alpha Quadrant, and the show ends with them blowing up a Borg Sphere and saying “hello” to the Starfleet ships waiting for them. There is barely any time devoted to the impact of arriving home on the crew because it happens so suddenly. And as much as Mulgrew does to sell “Set a course for home” as the final line... it falls flat.

I suspect that the reasoning for the abrupt ending is that the writers thought depicting the future older versions of the crew on Earth would serve as closure for our cast of characters. But it doesn’t work because the whole premise of the finale centers on Admiral Janeway undoing that future so she can save the lives of Seven of Nine and Chakotay, who are dead in this depicted future.

During one of Admiral and Captain Janeways’ scenes together, they are debating whether to use the Borg space tunnels to get home faster, or if they should destroy the tunnels to keep the Borg from being able to get around space. Then Captain Janeway proposes that there’s a way for them to “have our cake and eat it, too.”

Despite the convenience of this final plot, one that is explicitly identified as such by that line, the finale could still have stuck the landing if we saw or felt the impact of arriving home on the Voyager crew that we have been following for seven seasons. As messy as the show sometimes got, and as underserved as some characters became after the show introduced Seven of Nine (which confuses me because the writers did such a good initial job of utilizing that character to create new dynamics with the cast), this cast had earned and deserved a depiction of their arrival home. And we never got that.

Tom Paris is my least favorite character on the show. It has nothing to do with Robert Duncan McNeill’s performance, it’s just that the character never felt particularly developed beyond his initial characterization for me. His best material, in my opinion, was in “Lineage” when Tom comforts and assures B’Elanna that he will never leave her and that he wants their children to inherit their mother’s Klingon heritage. But one thread throughout the course of the show that seemed so straightforward of a payoff to save for the finale was Tom’s reunion with his father.

Tom talks frequently over the course of the show about his strained relationship with his Admiral dad. Then once Voyager is able to establish contact with the Alpha Quadrant (another development I had mixed feelings on because it diminishes the premise of the show by minimizing the ship’s isolation), we get introduced to Admiral Paris and he becomes a recurring character. We even get a moment where he expresses his love for Tom and how much he misses him. And while we do see Tom’s reaction to this, this huge character moment isn’t a direct interaction between these two characters. So naturally you would assume that their reunion, and likely reconciliation as father and son, would be shown once Voyager returns to Earth in the finale.

But that doesn’t happen.

Even though Admiral Paris is in the finale, that reunion setup is just not payed off in any way.

We also don’t get to see Tuvok reunited with his family.

Or Seven of Nine’s first impressions of Earth or her meeting any of her relatives.

Or any indication of what our former Maquis crewmembers’ reception by Starfleet would be.

Strangely, the only satisfying character sendoff of the show is Neelix, who in an earlier episode leaves to be with a colony of his own people and serve as Starfleet’s Delta Quadrant ambassador. His goodbye to the crew is a beautifully simple scene of him walking to his ship and passing by the entire crew, who are assembled along the hallway to see him off. And we even get a payoff to his friendship with Tuvok when Tuvok briefly taps his toes as a farewell gesture to Neelix.

Neelix started as the show’s most grating character, irritatingly cheerful and toxically possessive of Kes. By the time the show ended, he had become a well-rounded and essential presence. His traumas of losing his faith and family, as well as his insecurities around his role in the crew, were well developed over the course of the show.

In a way, the finale was a perfect example of the show. The premise was solid, and the cast was totally game and performed it to the best of their ability. But when it came down to conveying any impact that this episode, or the series in its entirety, would have on its characters... the finale just sidesteps that and ends abruptly.

Janeway, Seven of Nine, Chakotay, B’Elanna, Tuvok, Harry, Tom, Kes, and The Doctor all deserved better.

#kyle rants #star trek: voyager #star trek voyager #star trek

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kncrowder88 · 3 years

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Voyager and Romance

So, the thing about Voyager and romance that sticks with me is they seem to do one couple really, or more accurately two characters, any real justice overall. And that is B’Elanna and Tom. While moments for that relationship may not be perfect that is rather realistic for relationships, as no relationship is perfect all the time so that is tolerable. This post though isn’t going to be about looking at that particular relationship though but primarily at other relationships. Largely because a discord server I am in was talking about Counterpoint and I realized why I both love the episode but also have weird feelings with it. Which, I’ll touch more on that specifically after I discuss the relationship stuff (as that plays a part).

So, I will preface this with it has been a bit since I’ve done a binge of Voyager and really a full binge of Star Trek in general. As such, I may forget a few relationships on the show and overall, throughout Trek in general. From what I can really toss together … I honestly am beginning to believe that when it comes to Voyager and the other shows (the older ones not the new ones – I am not including any NEW Trek in this) that for some reason the relationship writing with Voyager was rather different. Like, they gave 3 characters active relationships prior to being stranded. That being Harry Kim, Kathryn Janeway, and Tuvok. Out of these three we get Janeway and Tuvok holding onto those relationships in their own way while … it seemed mildly convenient for Harry to mention it when it suited him, I guess (like that time Tom wanted to set them up for a double date or you know when he ended up in that alternate timeline but still wanted back with Voyager even more like). Like, the reason I don’t list Tuvok-T’Pel above is because we don’t actually get to SEE that in full, we just get to see Tuvok’s side of it and his dedication – we don’t see the relationship, we don’t see the couple.

Harry and Tom, prior to his relationship with B’Elanna, seem to frequently do this sort of two bros dating around thing which is fine but like … same time the show used them for that. And once they settled Tom with B’Elanna they used Harry in those plot lines when it worked. Thus the alien STD episode and the “how dare you not get the standard permission from your CO and CMO” line (like they really put that into a Trek ep and I’m still unable to not picture Riker, Kirk, Picard, and everyone other Trek character constantly getting permission for their latest romance – just remember Jadzia and Worf likely had to get permission from Sisko and Bashir if the Trill and Klingon weren’t already approved of in the system just saying, that’s a thing that happened). Anyways … my point is they went out of their way on this. Like, when Kes was with Neelix they wrote Neelix to be that jealous judgmental boyfriend who literally got upset she knew where other people’s quarters where, she was nice to Tom, she was … just yeah. They wrote Tom to come off as a player pulling Harry into it, when Tom settled down Harry seems to pick that up (I mean you got his “omg Seven” phase and the alien STD stuff and lord knows what else I’m forgetting with him).

And to top this off I haven’t even touched on the “Janeway can’t have a romance” stuff yet. Which is where my real problem is. Like, its bad enough they brought in Jeri for the sex appeal (which lets be honest stems from the fact they couldn’t use Janeway for that – which I get, Kate was right in the whole concept of the audience target having to keep respect for a female lead and sex appeal couldn’t be a focal point but they could have balanced it right and regrettably because they couldn’t that meant Jeri got all of the other side of the coin). Many of Seven’s eps center on romance or social stuff and honestly that is a whole other WTF post in its own right because it all leads up to the sudden get with the one person on the ship who didn’t want you here in the first place and who also would have served better as the male adult guidance figure/father figure than as a ROMANTIC partner but hey BS happened behind scenes to cause that chaotic romantic on screen set up. But yeah … this is just another example of the poor Voyager romantic plot lines.

Chakotay’s romantic plot lines are usually – and by that, I mean pretty much always – with these strong independent women. But usually, at least from what I recall, they are also typically the “needs help” (damsel in distress/can’t do it alone/etc.) plot. Like, Riley was strong independent but also set up to need help in regard to getting her little collective put back together on the planet. You got Kellin, again another strong lady who yet again also needed help. At least in the ep she’s in and if I recall much of the info on how they fell in love during that time as well – primarily with getting away from danger at the start and then during the initial romance finding her target. Valerie is the only one who doesn’t fall into the needs help plot and that’s largely because she was being manipulated by Chakotay for information – which honestly just goes to show how well Chakotay was at the whole undercover stuff (which tells us a lot about what he could have been doing as a Maquis). Seska was the plot point of “you once dated her, now she is going to badger you to get with her again and when that fails, she’s going to assault you” …. like all of Chakotay’s romances are literally him either 1) being manipulated (as that’s what Seska and Riley did) or 2) being the kind guy or 3) not an actual relationship (either because its undercover work or because the writers were too cowardly to make him and Janeway canon).

Then you got Janeway. Then you got KATHRYN JANEWAY. You know, the one where Kate Mulgrew said no romance, no sexualizing, no doing that sort of stuff because the audience had to maintain respect for the character. I’m sure someone has the exact various quotes out there. Like … this is why we don’t have JC as canon. But what we do got instead is …. Janeway in Prime Factors being flirted with by the administrator as if that’s going to get him what he wants because “female leader means flirt with her”. We got Janeway and a period drama holodeck adventure in the early years which was clearly meant to be her romantic tête-à-tête early on that never got followed up with. We got “delete the wife” with the Fair Haven plot point (because its totally respectable to see the FEMALE LEAD, the STARFLEET CAPTAIN, just straight up DELETE THE WIFE of another individual - yeah, I get its meant to be humor factor because hologram but come on). You have her whole thing with Mark which we get tidbits off but again similar to Tuvok we literally only get to see her side of it – the only couple moment of theirs we get is the comm call in Caretaker.

But Jaffen? You are correct. We got that lovely and touching and wonderful romance with Jaffen …. Oh wait … they had to remove her from the ship, strip her of her memory, and her autonomy in order for her to have a relationship with another individual. And yes, by losing her memories, by losing what made her who she was as a person, she did lose a sense of autonomy. She entered into a relationship without a full sense of independent choice. The point in which she made a choice in that episode, the point in which she – Kathryn Janeway – made a choice with all of the person, the individual she is, was at the end when she had her memories back and could decide based on the values and beliefs and all that she is. What I’m getting at is the people on that planet deliberately took away who she was, they took her memories and her ability to make the decisions they knew she would make --- they did that deliberately (that’s even established in the episode) --- and as such her decisions while in that state are not truly her full independent decisions but the ones impacted by the state she was forced into.

And while I love Resolutions, while I love all the JC goodies, we get in that ep … Yet again the only time we get to see Janeway in any sort of romantic situation is when they remove her from the ship. When they remove her from command. When they strip her of that setting. This time, though – well the first time – she keeps awareness and has to go through lose of it all in order to even start to let it all happen. I love the episode, I do, but I just find it rather amusing they went “’Hey we gotta strand them what should their tasks be on the planet?” and they immediately went “Well Janeway is scientist how about that” “Okay and he can build, Chakotay can start building. Man builds house, right?” and then like went “oh and then she can start a garden” …. Like really? Really? That’s what you got for me. Oh, and then there is the monkey. That’s the romance this ep. Boat, science, monkey.

Then we got Kashyk. We have dealt with Kathryn throughout this series dealing with various leaders of various styles. As mentioned, Prime Factors guy attempted flirting. Other leaders pulled similar or worse or even dismissed her …. Like the list goes on. Counterpoint is a great episode because it deals with prejudice and is rather dark. The thing is, had Janeway been able to have a healthy romantic relationship on screen to counter this episode this episode probably would have come off better. Episodes like Prime Factor could have been done different (that leader didn’t need to be as flirty for example). One or two eps through the series having creepy dudes she had to deal with, fine, whatever … that be a nice impact for the audience. But when you have to many prior to Counterpoint – even if its minor, small stuff – it makes this episode so much harder for fans. Especially the female fans who deal with this constantly.

See, here’s the thing with this ep…. Some of the fans who watch … we know Kashyk well. We know that character. He is that male leader, that male power figure, who uses the power he has to manipulate those in his control to get what he wants. And Kathryn … Kathryn was in his control. Kashyk is listed as a relationship on memory-alpha. But much like how I view Seska with Chakotay … I do not view Kashyk as a proper relationship. In Devore space, Kathryn did not have proper power. She had people in her command, on her ship, that she had to protect. That she knew she had to protect. Her own best friend … lives in her hand … and Kashyk right there willing to kill them. Willing to snatch them up and destroy them. And he used that power to manipulate her and play her. Yes, she played him right back but … did she truly have a choice? Did she have any other choice but to play his game? What would have happened if she said no? And that … that is why this episode is so unsettling for some people. And why this relationship being considered on is so off putting … that the writers, that memory-alpha, that the fact I’m putting it on this list as one of the ones on here for Voyager says so much … they wrote this as one of her relationships while out there … she had to do what so many women had to do to stay safe, to keep people she loves safe, and that’s not a relationship.

Voyager could have done romance/relationships such better justice.

#star trek #star trek voyager #i had some feelings about things #primarily the Kashyk thing #but that lead to other things #and honestly i am really begining to question romance in voyager #but also like overall in Trek in general #like the more i think about Voyager the more im like oh god they really did seem to fail there #because the only valid couple i can think of is Tom and B'Elanna

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paris-torres-month · 3 years

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FEVER FEBRUARY DAY 12: Smutty Saturday

“You know, I've been surprised at how well you've been able to fit in here. A little envious too.” “Tom, what's been going on with you lately?”

On 12 February, 1996 Dreadnaught aired. It’s the episode where B’Elanna faces up to her past pride & mistakes, and calls Tom his current ones.

Tom is knee deep in his ‘disgruntled bad boy’ deception as he attempts to rout out Seska’s spy (who, unbeknownst to both him & B’Elanna is safely ensconced in engineering right under their noses), and B’Elanna calls him on his bullshit.

He can’t explain to her why he’s been late for shifts & showing up dishevelled & not writing his reports properly & is running con games on the crew (well, that may be for the replicator rations) & mouthing off to Chakotay (that may be purely for fun!) because he was sworn to secrecy by KJ and Tuvok.

His defence, “We’re in the Delta Quadrant, who cares about rules?” is highlighted by their discovery of an old, sentient Cardassion destructo-missile from the AQ currently headed toward a planet of peaceful beings who can’t destroy or stop it. B’Elanna knows this bomb: back in their Maquis days, she helped to reprogram it and—against Chakotay’s orders—gave it a new target: a Cardassian military one. Unfortunately, the bomb must have gotten sucked into the DQ along with Voyager, the Equinox, the Valjean, that Ferengi ship… the Caretaker was busy.

Both Tom & B’Elanna attempt to make up for past actions in this episode, Tom by accepting Janeway’s undercover assignment (why wasn’t he promoted afterward…?), and B’Elanna by insisting that since she reprigramed it once, she can do it again, and beaming over to Dreadnought to convince it alter its course and not blow up the planet full of friendly locals.

And that’s another point: Dreadnought refuses to believe her when she tells it that it’s headed for a civilian target not a military one, and that they’re in the Delta Quadrant. Some days, she can hardly believe it herself… 😒

In the end, of course, B’Elanna saves the day. But not before we come right down to the wire. Dreadnought comes within spitting distance of the planet, it cuts off B’Elanna’s oxygen supply, KJ orders her crew to the escape pods (because she may have to ram Dreadnought to stop it? I forget), Tom thanks KJ for taking a chance on him and believing in him, and B’Elanna begs for a few more seconds to disable Dreadnought.

And everyone lives & B’Elanna still thinks that Tom is behaving like a jerk and Undercover!Tom still can’t tell her why.

I keep mixing up the title of this episode with the season 5 episode, Juggernaut (and mixing up my a & o). Yes, they sound alike. Yes, in both B’Elanna beams over to some alien ship/tech/bomb to try to defuse it. Yes, she almost dies in the process both times. Yes, both episodes have a nice P/T moment.

But only Juggernaut has a kiss:

The universe, and homicidal bombs, doesn’t stand a chance against the wonderfulness that is P/T.

#fever february #catch the fever #tom paris #b’elanna torres #tom x b'elanna #paris x torres #dreadnought #smutty saturday #paris-torres-month

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isagrimorie · 4 months

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Do we know what Janeway actually thought of Seska? And the revelation that she's a Cardassian?

We know Chakotay and B'Elanna's feelings about Seska, and that's valid because they were the people closest to her.

But I'm curious what Janeway's personal feelings are about Seska, I doubt anyone but Tuvok (and, later Seven) knew about Janeway's war record.

I keep going back to the detail that Janeway was going to let a wounded Cardassian die if her commanding officer didn't order her to save that Cardassian.

I feel that singular moment saved Janeway's soul from going to a more nihilistic and darker path. It became a cornerstone of who she is and why Janeway didn't react well when Seven waved away at her story.

Still, it's so interesting to think about, what did Janeway, a Cardassian Border War vet, who survived a brutal siege war and several engagements think of Seska?

#musings #thinky thoughts #kathryn janeway #star trek voyager #cardassian war vet

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sshbpodcast · 3 years

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A Surprisingly Good Showing for Neelix in Season 1 of Voyager!

by Ames

We’ve launched into our next phase in the podcast and can happily report back that so far Voyager is better than the internet makes it out to be! Take that, internet shitpeople! One thing we made note of that we didn’t expect was how much really solid character work Neelix got. You’re going to see him in the tops list a couple of times – a feat that the fandom’s general distaste in Neelix made us assume impossible.

With only one real clunker on the list, it’s a fairly solid outing for your hosts at A Star to Steer Her By to review, so set course for the Delta Quadrant: we’re gonna do some deep analysis on the weirdly abridged first season of Voyager. Or at least tell you what we liked and didn’t like. Find them all below and check out our banter in this week’s podcast episode here (season wrap discussion at 1:08:24).

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Top Three Episodes

We’re going to start with the tops for a change and also to keep some Maquis members from immediately mutinying. Also, our favorite episodes of season one saw more agreement than the least favorites, so it’s the easier list:

“Faces”: Jake B’Elanna Torres gets a big chunk of meaty development in this identity crisis–inducing episode. Considering how much Jake disliked “The Enemy Within,” it is certainly telling how good this episode is that he put it on his good list and how good a job Roxann Dawson did with it. Extra points for Sulan straight up stealing a man’s face too.

“Heroes and Demons”: Caitlin, Chris Fan favorite character the Emergency Medical Hologram also got a hunk of meat to work with. Literally. This episode balanced some really fun holodeck shenanigans with some very smart character moments and a nice sciencey element to boot. We also appreciated the portrayal of Freya, Kim getting decked out in period garb, and all our new Danish holofriends!

“Phage”: Ames, Chris The first in our Neelix appreciation episodes, “Phage” asks some really hard questions about what people are willing to experience and what atrocities they’re willing to commit in order to keep on keepin’ on. Making Neelix such a sympathetic character was commendable and Ethan Phillips really holds his own while acting mostly from a bed. We are looking forward to loving to hate the Vidiians more in the future!

“Eye of the Needle”: Ames, Caitlin, Jake We are super here for it any time Voyager nails an episode that only it can, and having the rug pulled out from under you over and over again when it keeps looking like you’re gonna get home is the very epitome of a series 70,000 lightyears away. We loved our Romulan guest star Telek R’Mor. We loved the constant twists. We loved the time wonkiness and the general sci-fi-ness. Excellent episode all around.

“Jetrel”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake We get more really dramatic fodder for Neelix here and it is marvelous to watch. Ethan Phillips gets a heartfelt monologue in just about every other scene. Familiar face (if you can call being under all that makeup a familiar face) James Sloyan also encapsulates a very nuanced and intriguing Oppenheimer-style scientist, whom we can understand even if we cannot forgive.

—

Bottom Three Episodes

The tougher decision was picking a whole three baddies this season since pretty much everything in the season was at least okay. But we’ve got some varied reasons for just not caring for these episodes:

“Prime Factors”: Ames Not really a bad episode, per se, but we needed to put something on the list, and Gath was going to be the target this time. It just got sorta gross how much he was always leering at Janeway. The Sikarians’ need for stories seemed like a cop-outty resolution, and the ending with Tuvok going rogue was super rushed. That’s all.

“Cathexis”: Caitlin Poor Chakotay doesn’t get a ton to do this season (or ever?), and his moment to shine was spent being unconscious while Torres futzed around with his Native American trinkets. The Healing Wheel and basically all the indigenous customs are just plain going to make us uncomfortable regardless of how they’re handled just by the knowledge that the show’s Native American consultant was a hack.

“Time and Again”: Chris While we do love us a good time-travel paradox, this was one just underdeveloped. We never got a handle on if we should be siding with the protesters or if they deserved their initial fate because they didn’t get a chance to get fleshed out. And that child actor: let’s just say we kinda wish Paris had delivered on his promise and eaten him.

“The Cloud”: Jake Boy, there sure wasn’t enough coffee in this nebula, so this episode had to get heavily padded with little random scenes to fill out forty-something minutes. What we’re left with is a fairly slow slog, another bit of uncomfortable hoodoo from Chakotay, and almost exactly no stakes throughout. You can tune out for the whole middle of the episode and not miss anything noteworthy.

“State of Flux”: Ames What this episode fails to deliver is any bit of suspense over whether or not Seska is the saboteur at any given point. While being a secret Cardassian is a nice revelation, she is too obviously the culprit from the word go. Any possible illusions that maybe there’s going to be some kind of fascinating twist just weren’t going to pay off, leaving us ultimately feeling dissatisfied.

“Learning Curve”: Caitlin, Chris, Jake We see why the writers hadn’t wanted this episode to be the season finale: it’s a whole lot of nothing and thus ends the season with a whimper. All season long, we sorta forgot the Maquis were still a thing, and then this episode comes along, wastes the opportunity to utilize them effectively, and pairs them with too much cheese. Literally!

“Ex Post Facto”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake This noir-gone-wrong is the only really bad episode we can point to from the season; it just got so much wrong. The Scooby-Doo murder mystery is clunky, the resolution is laughable, the makeup is nonsensical, and the attempts to do noir just didn’t work at all. And we would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you kids and your awful dog.

—

Since it was a short season, most of the episodes are represented here, but we’ll be seeing future seasons at full capacity as we continue our trek through Voyager. Keep up with us as we push past warp 9 on SoundCloud or your favorite podcast app, chill out with us at Sandrine’s on Facebook and Twitter, and do keep writing Neelix this well!

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songbookff · 4 years

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Valentine's j/7 ❤

I’m making this an established janeway/seven. Set whenever you want it to be. Also it turned out a waaaayyy longer than I thought...so I also posted it on A03. Thank you, anon. If you want me to gift you the fic on A03, just message me your username. Or if you want to stay anon, that’s fine too.

In the early morning, Captain Janeway entered her office and went straight for her replicator. Coffee was calling. She gave the computer her normal order, but to her surprise, when her coffee appeared, so did a single red rose.

Tentatively, she reached out to touch the vibrantly colored rose. Attached to the green stem was a note. It was odd, to see the cardstock, although replicated and the small ribbon that secured it in place. In printed script, it read: “Roses are red...”

Kathryn pulled the rose up to her face, knowing that the scent was replicated, but reveling in it all the same. She turned away and made it halfway to her desk before she remembered that her coffee was still sitting in the replicator. Even a red rose couldn’t completely distract her from her morning cup of survival.

Rose in one hand, coffee in the other, she slipped into her chair behind her desk, only to find a small bouquet of purplish-blue flowers. A blue ribbon tied the stems together and another note attached. This one read, “Violets are blue...”

She set down the rose and her coffee (after a quick sip of course) and picked up the bundle. These felt different than the replicated rose. Katheryn’s eyes widened when she realized these were from Voyager’s own botanical gardens. They were real violets, not generated by the computer. They felt much more delicate than the rose and she could see the tiny imperfections of being grown rather than created. They were truly beautiful.

After replicating a small vase with water to set them in, Kathryn tried to start her day. However, there was the faintest smile on her face and she was convinced her coffee tasted better this morning. Finally, she pulled up her data padd to review the reports from the night shift. When the padd turned on, a single message appeared, marked urgent.

Odd. Usually urgent messages were reported by the computer so that she didn’t miss any when she was sleeping or off duty. She pressed open and the text read: “...I would like to spend dinner in the holodeck just with you.”

This time, Kathryn didn’t attempt to suppress the smile. Whatever Seven was up to, she had gone out of her way to surprise her this morning. The poem sounded familiar now. It was an old Earth romantic ballad of sorts: “Roses are red, violets, are blue...” usually followed by a rhyming ending that expressed love and adoration. It was clever, really.

And very unlike Seven of Nine. This of course, only intrigued Kathryn more.

However, she did have a ship to run. So she pulled up the reports and began reading, trying not to let the beautiful flowers on her desk distract her. It seemed everything had been quiet the night before, so the reports were short. A blown fuse on deck three had been the only excitement of the night and had been resolved within a half hour.

The door chimed after an hour, and she rose for her morning meeting with Chakotay. He entered the office was a pleasant smile, hands tucked behind his back. “Good morning, Captain.”

“It has been...” admitted Kathryn with a smile. She couldn’t help but noticed he had a mischievous look in his eyes. “Chakotay, what’s going on?”

“Can’t slip anything past you,” he chuckled. “Nothing new to report, although B’elanna claims to have come up with an idea to maximize our warp capacity by another percentage. I’ll be sure to have someone double check her math before she begins any experimentation. Although, Tom has volunteered to do the preliminary fight tests on the shuttle. So she can’t think it’s that dangerous.”

“Just make sure Harry is there to monitor,” replied Kathryn with a smirk.

“Will do. Also, I have been asked to make a delivery.” From behind his back, Chakotay produced a red box that had been formed in the shape of a geometric heart. He was grinning from ear to ear now, obviously in on whatever Seven was planning by the looks of the box he was holding out to her.

Curiously, she took the box, surprised a little by the weight of it. Under Chakotay’s excited gaze, she opened it to find an assortment of tiny chocolates also shaped as hearts. They appeared to be different flavors and if she could guess, different fillings as well.

“What is going on?” she repeated, astonished at the chocolates.

Chakotay laughed and shrugged, innocently proclaiming, “I’m just they delivery guy. But I do have strict instructions that you are to try one before we get out on the bridge.”

Chocolate wasn’t something she normally indulged in, especially not for breakfast, but the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing somehow this was all Seven’s design, forced her to comply. She picked a dark brown piece with a red swirl design and popped it into her mouth.

“Well?” asked Chakotay, eyebrow raised in anticipation.

“Dark chocolate with cherry. Absolutely delicious,” declared Kathryn. Then she let out a chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation. She set the chocolates on the desk next to the rose and the vase she had put the violets in.

Together, they exited her ready room to start the morning on the bridge. Her crew was bustling as usual. To be honest it had been a dull week, but after all the excitement they had recently, Kathryn was glad for the down time. There was maintenance to be done and the crew were rotating on new shifts to get some down time. So for the next hour, Kathryn read reports in the Captain’s chair, tuning out the business of the bridge.

That is until Harry Kim was at her elbow. He cleared his throat and hesitated, “Captain...”

“What can I do for you, Ensign?” asked Kathryn. Noticing the nervous expression on his face, she added, “What did Lieutenant Paris do now?”

“I’m right here!” came the exasperated call from the helm. Tom whirled around in his seat, throwing his hands in the air. The tension broke and Harry managed a short laugh.

“As you were,” ordered Kathryn. Tom turned back to his helm, but not before giving Harry a wink.

“Captain, I need to borrow your badge...and your pips...”

“Excuse me?”

“Just for a few minutes,” he hastily said. “I just need to upgrade the badge!”

“And my pips?” Kathryn raised an eyebrow. Harry stood firm under her gaze and reached out his open palm.

Chakotay leaned over in his chair and whispered, “Don’t interrogate the poor kid. Just give him what he asked for...”

It suddenly dawned on Kathryn that this was another part of Seven’s elaborate plan. Of course, she had no idea what in the world Harry would do with her badge or rank, but wordlessly she plucked the badge from her chest and allowed Chakotay to help her unpin the four pips from her collar.

Eagerly, Harry hustled away without another word. Amused glances were being exchanged between her bridge crew and she swore she saw Tuvok give Harry a nod of approval as he left the bridge. Kathryn spend the next half hour wondering what in the stars everyone was up to when Harry returned, velvet box in hand.

Wordlessly, he handed it to her before scurrying back to his post at Ops. Chakotay was staring at the blur of stars on the viewscreen now, purposely giving her a moment of privacy. Kathryn opened the box to reveal her comm badge and four shining pips staring back at her. She hadn’t seen them this polished since they were new, well before Voyager had entered the Delta Quadrant.

It wasn’t that she didn’t take care of her hardware, but keeping them shining was the last thing on her mind during most of the journey. But here they were, good as new. The badge gleamed too, no residual fingerprints any more. She pinned it back on and nudged Chakotay to help her put the pips back on her collar.

Harry cleared his throat from Ops and she turned in her chair to face him. With the slightest red in his cheeks he said, “I think you’ll find I took care of the problem you were having with your badge sticking.”

“Very good, Ensign,” was all she could think to say. For the past two weeks, she had been complaining that her badge needed to be hit twice on occasion to connect to the computer. If they were in Starfleet space, the comm badges would be replaced regularly so this wouldn’t happen.

The rest of the morning went on as normal, although now Kathryn was wondering what else could possibly happened. Lunchtime came and she made her way to the Mess Hall. There were a few crew members already enjoying lunch. However, she reached the replicators, a voice called out.

“Captain! Your lunch is already ready for you.” Standing behind her was Icheb, proudly holding a tray. “Today the kitchen has prepared a vegetable and bean stew with a side of crusty bread.”

Icheb, still learning about human cuisine seemed unsure of what he was saying, but a steaming bowl sat atop the tray and a slice of toasted french bread rested on a napkin next to it. The stew was reminiscent of one that she had grown up eating, although it was usually replicated if she remembered correctly. It was a favorite of her father.

“Thank you, Icheb,” she said politely, taking the tray from him. He gave her a quick nod before turning on his heal to go back into the kitchen. Kathryn gave a small shake of her head in amusement. What a day this was turning out to be...

The stew was tasty, if a little heavy on beans and the bread was as crusty as Icheb had said. Still, it was a good lunch, one she had not been expecting. As she wiped up the last of the stew with her bread, Naomi Wildman slipped into the chair across from her.

“Hello, Captain.” The girl had a broad smile on her face.

“How are you, Naomi?” asked Kathryn, wondering what Seven could have put the child up to.

“I have something for you,” replied Naomi with excitement. From her lap, hidden from Kathryn’s view, she produced a small stuffed bear. It was brown with a red bow around the neck and wasn’t much bigger than Naomi’s hands. She pushed it over for Kathryn to grab and then slipped off the chair and skipped out of the Mess Hall.

The bear was soft and fit perfectly into Kathryn’s grasp. The little thing made her smile, right there in front of the other members of the crew in the Mess Hall. Most were grinning back at her and now Kathryn was certain that the entire ship was in on Seven’s escapade.

She took the bear back to the bridge with her and said nothing when Chakotay tried to cover a laugh at the sight of it sitting on the arm of her chair. She had no idea what had possessed Seven, or rather Naomi, to give it to her, but she enjoyed the little stuff thing. It was silly, but sweet.

Two hours later, Tuvok called her attention, “Captain. I believe it is time to report to your quarters.”

“I’m on shift for another three hours, Tuvok.”

“I will escort you to your quarters.” The answer was firm and when she looked behind her, he had left his post and was waiting by the turbolift doors.

Everyone on the bridge seemed to be determined to stare at their consoles and not look directly at her. Well, she had played along all morning, why stop now? With a sigh, she pushed herself out of the Captain’s seat and walked towards the exit.

“Forgetting something?” asked Chakotay, holding up the little bear. He was failing miserably at keeping his face neutral.

“You have the bridge, Commander.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kathryn retrieved the bear with a roll of her eyes and then allowed Tuvok to escort her back to her quarters. “Tuvok, will you please tell me what is going on?”

“I have been sworn to the strictest of confidences.” He continued to look straight ahead.

“I know Seven is behind all of this...but it’s interfering with my job now.”

He didn’t answer until the reached her door and then he slowly turned and spoke, “I would never place you or this ship in any precarious situation. I assure you that this is in your best interest and should a situation arrive that would need your direct attention, I will be the first to summon you.”

“Thank you, Tuvok.” He held up the Vulcan salute and then left her to enter her quarters.

When the doors whooshed open, she could hear soothing music playing. The lights were dimmed and there was a large porcelain bathtub where her coffee table used to be. And Neelix was standing behind it, grinning from ear to ear.

“Captain! Welcome to Neelix’s home spa treatment!” he greeted her with a grand motion of his arms.

“How...?” Kathryn glanced back at her closed door and then back at Neelix.

“We were worried you may not have appreciated the intrusion. But I promise that I haven’t been in any of your personal belongings. I brought all my own things. Your table was the only thing removed.” He winked at her and then, like the showman he was, waved his hands dramatically and began by lifting a small bowl from the small table he had arranged next to the bath tub.“Today I have for you the most luxurious and moisturizing face cream that will leave you glowing and relieved.”

Placing the bowl back down he reached for a bottle and wine glass also sitting on the table. Pouring the red liquid into in the glass, he said, “A top of the line red wine that comes from Earth, the French region, I believe. It is dry with a hint of blackberries and oak.”

“And here,” he pulled a leather bound book from seemingly thin air, “Is your entertainment for the evening. A romance novel circa the twentieth century, for your enjoyment.”

“All of this in what is called a ‘bathtub’.” Neelix motioned towards the tub with a sweep of his hand. “I made some adjustments to make it more comfortable. I have no idea how humans could stand sitting for long period of times with that shape. Seven wanted everything to be as historically accurate as possible, so we’ll just have to keep that secret to ourselves. The water will remain the most comfortable of temperatures for the human body and it has bubbles that give off the scent of lavender.”

“Thank you?” Kathryn eyed the bathtub wearily and then back to Neelix.

He had produced a plum colored robe and walked towards her. The silk was soft on her hands when she grasped the it. “I will leave you know. Just let the computer know if you need anything. Your next guest will be arriving at eighteen hundred hours to help you get ready for your dinner on the holosuite. The computer will give you a fifteen minute warning.”

Neelix left with a wink and a smile, leaving Kathryn alone with the robe and bathtub. Self care like this wasn’t something she indulged in anymore. It made her a little uncomfortable at first, as she stripped off her uniform and put on the robe.

A sip of wine helped relax her senses and she liberally applied Neelix’s face cream to her face. She figured that even if Neelix had somehow given her something that she was allergic to, the Doctor would be able to set it right. Once the face mask had been applied, she slipped off the robe and climbed into the tub.

As she lowered her body into the perfectly warmed water, she found the modifications that Neelix had been talking about. Instead of the rounded bottom of the tub, she found a soft, almost cushiony chair, waiting for her to rest on. She sunk back against the porcelain with a sigh.

After another sip of wine, she reached for the book. She hadn’t read it before, but it looked like something she would enjoy. It as written in the twentieth century, but appeared to take place in the eighteenth. Soon, she was entranced in the story, with nothing but the soothing music, warm water, and delicious wine to fill her mind.

The computer chimed some time later, altering her that she needed to get out of the tub. There was a towel hanging from the edge of the tub that she used to dry off and then put the silky robe back on. The door chimed and she said enter without even asking who it was.

To her surprise, B’Elanna burst through the door, a black garment bag slung over her shoulder. She took one look at Kathryn, frowned, and said, “What the hell do you have on your face?”

Kathryn had completely forgotten about the face cream and hoped she wasn’t supposed to have removed it after a certain amount of time. “I’m not sure she admitted.”

“Well, go wash it off while I get these out.” B’Elanna made a shooing motion while she walked over to Kathryn’s bed. Kathryn went into the bathroom to wash off the cream. To her relief, her face appeared to be fine. In fact, she felt light and refreshed.

When she came back in, B’Elanna had laid two pieces of clothing on the bed. One was a dark green gown, with a lace pattern overlaid on the silken material on the chest. It was belted at the waist and floor length. The second was a light grey suit, with a silken green shirt beneath it that matched the dress. Both had obviously been tailored to her size.

“I have no idea what Seven was thinking, putting me in charge of getting you dressed. So I got some opinions from the other women in the crew and we decided on these two. There is a bet going about whether you will pick the dress or the suit. I’m betting on the suit, so don’t let me down.”

Both garments were beautiful, but B’Elanna was right, the suit was probably more her style. The dress was beautiful, but the thought of wearing it down to the holosuite for anyone to see made her uncomfortable.

“I’ll wear the suit, but leave the dress.” Maybe later she could put it on just for Seven.

B’Elanna clapped her hands together in triumph. “Alright, so Seven wanted this to be authentic, hence the real clothes, but I’m not a stylist. So I programmed the holodeck to do your hair and makeup when you enter. She’ll never know. And don’t worry, I am a firm believer that no one needs makeup, so it won’t be anything heavy.”

If there was one person on this ship that Kathryn trusted wouldn’t overdo her hair or makeup, it was B’Elanna. “Thank you.”

“Alright, let’s get you into this thing. Wouldn’t want to keep the Borg waiting...” she grinned at her own joke and Kathryn rolled her eyes. It was a teasing that had been occurring since Kathryn and Seven had made their relationship public.

The pants and shirt fit like a glove and B’Elanna helped her get the suit jacket on. B’Elanna stood back, admiring her work. “Huh. It does look good.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” replied Kathryn sarcastically. “But seriously, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” B’Elanna straightened her collar and added, “Seriously. Let’s never mention this again.”

“Deal.”

The two women left the Captain’s quarters and headed toward the holosuite. There weren’t too many crewmembers in the corridors. Kathryn wondered if they had been instructed to make themselves scarce or if everyone was just busy. Waiting by the holosuite was Tom Paris, bottle in hand, leaning against the bulkhead.

Tom let out a whistle when Kathryn and B’Elanna approached him and his wife punched him in the shoulder for it. Kathryn only rolled her eyes. “Is that bottle for me?”

“The finest champagne I could replicate. I did a little magic with the replicator to get around the safety features, that that there is the real deal. Harry and I tried a dozen just to make sure you got the best one. It’s authentic as you can get this far into the delta quadrant.” Tom handed her the bottle with a wink. Then he slung his arm around B’Elanna’s shoulder. “My fair lady, would you escort me back to our quarters. I seem to have lost my way.”

“How much did you drink, you idiot?” B’Elanna grabbed ahold of Tom and as they walked away, she called over her shoulder, “Have a good evening, Captain.”

“Go get the girl!” shouted Tom, encouragingly. He let out a hoot that was quickly shushed by his wife.

Bottle in hand, smile on her face, Kathryn entered the simulation. She walked into what appeared to be a countryside vineyard of old Earth. A single table for two was set on a stone patio that had fairy lights strung up in the air. A pair of candles lit the table on a white table cloth. Long stemmed champagne glasses were paired with white china plates.

“Hello, Kathryn.” Seven of Nine walked out of the vineyard across from Kathryn. She was dressed in a beautiful, shimmering full length red dress. The neckline dipped to reveal just enough of her chest to make Kathryn blush. It was held up by slender straps and blonde hair was curled on her shoulders. The color was gorgeous and Kathryn was sure that her jaw dropped.

“Seven...you look...” Kathryn gripped the neck of the champagne bottle tighter as she tried to find the right words. “You are beautiful.”

“I am partial to the dress,” replied Seven, looking down at herself. “It is impractical, but I believe it has the desired effect.”

“All of this is beautiful,” said Kathryn as she approached the table. “Today was been wonderful. Quite surprising, but wonderful.”

“Your suit fits you well. I find that my attraction to you is heightened in that outfit.” Kathryn allowed herself to blush under Seven’s gaze. Seven motioned for her to take a seat.

Suddenly, the Doctor, dressed in a tuxedo appeared out of thin air. “May I take that bottle from you, Captain?”

“I...yes...” Kathryn handed it over, surprised by his appearance. He deftly popped the cork and poured out the two glasses as the women seated themselves.

“Tonight, I will be serving a lobster linguine. We will begin with a light salad to prime the palate and then we will move to the main course. A decadent chocolate cheesecake will be served for dessert.” He gave them a smile and then snapped his fingers and the salads appeared on the plate in front of them. With another snap, he had disappeared.

“Seven, what is all of this?” asked Kathryn. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but I don’t understand.”

“As you know, I have been studying Earth history to help reconnect with my humanity. I came across several holidays and traditions that have intrigued me. Some of them were based on religious or political movements of the time. I found one particularly of interest now that I am in a relationship with you. It is called ‘St. Valentine’s Day’. Have you heard of it?”

A smile graced Kathryn’s face. “I have.”

“I was confused by the history at first. There are conflicting thoughts on the origins of the holiday, but all seemed to be grim. However, it transformed into a day to celebrate lovers. When calendar dates were still being observed, it occurred annually on February fourteenth. I decided to make today Valentine’s Day for just the two of us.” Seven tilted her head to the side. “I thought it would be romantic.”

“It is...” murmured Kathryn. She took another bite of salad. “I don’t know that much about the history of Valentine’s Day. I understood your poem this morning. I think it is a traditional Valentine.”

“Yes. Roses and violets. Although, the name violets implies a purple color rather than blue, I did not correct it in order to continue the rhyme. I read that a dozen roses is a common gift, but a single red rose often implies more intimacy. Therefore, I provided a single red rose and a dozen violets.”

“Chocolates are a traditional gift for lovers, even now. I can’t wait to eat the rest of them.”

“I too am found of chocolates,” admitted Seven and Kathryn filed that information away for use at a later date. “Another traditional gift is jewelry. However, necklaces, bracelets, and rings are against the dress code. And you do not wear any off duty.”

“So you had my pips and badge cleaned.” Her heartbeat quickened. Seven had thought all of this through. It really was romantic. Kathryn wasn’t sure she could love the woman more, but somehow, she still had the ability to surprise her.

“Another common gift was stuffed animals. The Doctor explained that these are not taxidermized animals, but fluff stuffed fake figures. They are more commonly used by children for comfort. A ‘teddy bear’ is a traditional stuffed animal.”

“It was cute,” laughed Kathryn and to her pleasure, she saw Seven’s eyes light up at her reaction. “The spa was nice, too.”

“I am pleased that you enjoyed it.” Seven gave her a natural smile. Goodness, she was so beautiful, especially over candlelight.

The Doctor cleared his throat to announce his return. He snapped his fingers and announced, “Dinner is served.”

The salad plates disappeared and were replaced by a delicious looking pasta dish, topped with pieces of lobster. Breadsticks appeared in the middle of the table. Seven motioned to the food and explained, “Many references sourced traditional pasta from the Italian region of Earth was a common Valentine’s meal. Others reported that a home cooked meal that was nostalgic was also a good choice.”

“So you made my father’s favorite stew.”

Seven nodded. “You don’t have many favorites, but you talk about your family so often. I thought it would be the correct touch.”

“It was perfect.” Kathryn reached across the table to take Seven’s hand in her own. “All of it was perfect.”

“I believe the correct response would be that you are perfect. But I think that is incorrect. Everyone has flaws. It is in our nature.” Seven gave her hand a squeeze. “But I feel like you deserve to be treated with perfection, because I love you.”

“I love you, too, Seven.” The candlelight twinkled in their eyes.

“We should engage in eating this meal. My research says it will be pleasing to the palate,” added Seven with a tiny smirk. Kathryn laughed and picked up her fork to dig into the pasta.

Seven was right, it was delicious. And so was the slice of cheesecake that they shared for dessert. When they were finished, the Doctor appeared again. “I hope you enjoyed your dinner tonight. If you will stand please, I will delete the table and leave you two ladies to enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Both Kathryn and Seven rose to their feet. The Doctor snapped his fingers and the table disappeared. He gave them both a little bow and then snapped himself out of the simulation. Upon his departure, music starting playing. Soft, but with a dancing rhythm. Seven offered her hand and Kathryn accepted.

The two began dancing, slowly turning on the stone patio together, beneath the moonlight and the tiny string of lights above them. Kathryn pulled Seven’s thin body tightly against her own. She dropped her face to press their cheeks together, breathing in the scent that was Seven.

Kathryn loved being this close to Seven. They fit together so well. It was something that Kathryn had never experienced with anyone else. She loved the feel of Seven’s body against her own.

“I am pleased that you are my Valentine,” whispered Seven in her ear. Kathryn smiled and pressed a kiss to Seven’s collarbone.

Then she pulled back just enough to lock eyes with her lover. Gently, Kathryn raised her hand from Seven’s hip to cup her face. Then she firmly pressed their lips together. Beneath the moonlight, Kathryn kissed her Valentine.

#kathryn janeway #seven of nine #j/7 #kathryn/seven #kathryn janeway/seven of nine #star trek #st:voy #voyager

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stitching-in-time · 5 months

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Voyager rewatch s1 ep9: Prime Factors

Oof, this one is a lot heavier than I remembered, but really, really good.

I remembered the beginning part with the alien pleasure planet, but didn't remember how it turned into a serious moral dilemma with everyone on the ship wrestling with their consciences, and eventually with eachother. That final scene is a real gut punch, damn.

It starts out light enough, with seemingly friendly aliens inviting the Voyager crew to hang out on their paradie-like planet for a while (though casting a smarmy Eurotrash type in the role made him seem too sinister from the very beginning, they should have cast someone more charming so his eventual turnabout would have been an actual surprise.)

There's a nice scene where the crew are on the planet, and Harry meets a nice meteorologist girl, and they hit it off over science, and she invites him to take a trip to her favorite spot on a transporter. They almost have a romantic moment, but Harry gets distracted by learning that the transporter can take them to distant planets, and could take them halfway to Earth. (They could have at least let him kiss the girl, they never let Harry be the romantic lead, and honestly he's adorable and sweet and girls would be throwing themselves at him all the time.)

Harry luckily interrupts Captain Janeway almost kissing the smarmy Eurotrash guy (thank god, she deserves better!! why would she even like him at all??) and the plot thickens as the Voyager crew find themselves on the other end of someone else's Prime Directive when they ask to use the alien technology to get home, but their request is denied because the planet's laws forbid them from giving away technology too.

The subsequent debates among the crew about what to do and how to go about it, how to get around the law, whether it's okay to get around the law, whether to take the technology when it's offered to them through unlawful channels, whether disobeying orders is merited when it serves the greater good, are all a wonderful, and gutwrenching, character study about what each character is willing to do, and to sacrifice, for the one thing they all want more than anything else, to get home.

(Little shout out to the nice moment where Harry notices B'Elanna isn't really okay after the meeting and give her a reassuring word. They honestly had this whole beautiful friendship subplot going on in the first season that I'd entirely forgotten about, and I'm so sad it got abandoned.)

The scene where the crewmembers who disobeyed the captain's orders are trying to get the device to work before it's too late is excruciatingly tense, since the dread of knowing you're doing something you shouldn't is something everyone has experienced at some point, and it's palpable in B'Elanna most of all. Roxann Dawson's performance is heartbreaking as the weight of her guilt hits her, and she makes the decision to step up and take responsibilty for it.

The final scene where B'Elanna and Tuvok go to the Captain to confess what they did hurts to watch. All the actors knock it out of the park- Janeway's hurt at her their betrayal, and their pain at having caused it, are so raw. I teared up a little bit watching it. There's no happy ending for anyone here, all they can do is try to pick up the pieces and give each other grace because all they have is each other out there so far from home. It's messy and real, and it's one you keep thinking about even after the episode is over.

This one really got to me, in the best way.

Tl;dr: an unexpectedly strong episode full of top notch performances, which raises debates that don't have easy answers and tests the character's consciences and relationships in revealing ways. A+ grade.

#star trek: voyager #voyager rewatch #rewatching star trek #prime factors #star trek

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sobriquett · 3 years

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Dear Trick or Treat Author

Dear Trick or Treat Author,

[WIP: 23:50 BST 19/09/21]

What a wonderful time of year! (Or is that Yuletime? Nearly there too!)

Hello! I am very easily pleased so please take this as a starting point if you need some ideas but otherwise write what makes you happy! I know horror tropes/genre are in my dislikes but if you want to write a scary trick, you do that, yes please! Just play within the canonical world (werewolves in Milton-Northern, vampires at Thornfield, ghosts at the White House) and I'll be a happy reader (but please still stay aware from my gore-related DNWs!).

My normal ramble about what I enjoy in fic isn't really relevant to a 300+ word exchange but you can find it in past letters, click the letter tag.

That said, things missing from my main signup include these:

Loves: exploration of power imbalances Likes: epistolary

My fandoms are in alphabetical order (ish), so here we go!

1. 16th Century CE RPF

Anne Boleyn Anne of Cleves Catherine of Aragon Catherine Parr Elizabeth I of England Henry VIII of England Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester Thomas Seymour (1508 – 1549)

I've been on a bit of a Philippa Gregory kick this summer reading the Cousins' War series out of order. I'd love more stories about these figures – with some of them (Henry VIII in particular!) it's pretty easy to lean into the trick side of things, but there's treat potential too. Add more characters if you want; I've been reading histories and historical novels on this period for many, many years so if you drop in Maria de Salinas or Stephen Fisher or Kat Ashley or Thomas Cromwell or anyone I'm up for that, but I am also a laidback reader and this is a low-stress exchange, don't tie yourself in knots over accuracy. (Although I would, and I'd definitely recommend Ruth Goodman's How to be a Tudor if you haven't read it, even if you're not normally a non-fiction reader.)

What if [any utterly disastrous thing] didn't happen, or perhaps was somehow worse? Did Elizabeth and Dudley actually have some happiness in a romance, however brief? How did Anne of Cleves feel to retire as the King's beloved sister? What was Margaret Pole thinking on the morning of her execution? Is Henry VIII haunted by the ghosts of some of those he killed: friends and lovers and family? Did anything actually happen between Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour (There's historical room for a secret pregnancy in the country…)

2. Downton Abbey

Mary Crawley Edith Crawley Sybil Crawley Matthew Crawley Tom Branson Robert Crawley Cora Crawley Violet Crawley Isobel Crawley Lavinia Swire Anna Bates Evelyn Napier Freda Dudley Ward Marigold Crawley George Crawley Ship: Tom Branson/Sybil Crawley

This is like my TV comfort blanket. I rewatched it this year and I am interested in just about every main character except, oddly, Thomas – who is the favourite fic character of most writers! Give me a missing moment, a look at the future, a glance at the past, a look from the outside – whatever. Any point in, before or after canon is cool with me, except I tend to skim a lot of S4 (ugh, that rape storyline, please don’t use that).

Do ghosts walk the halls of Downton Abbey? What is life like in Ireland for Tom and Sybil? Do any of the characters ever feel a moment of true despair? What if Matthew had died in the war? What does the future hold for these characters? How did Robert, Cora and Violet get on in the 1890s? What was Carson like with Mary/Edith/Sybil as children? Does it parallel his relationship with their children?

3. The Good Place

Eleanor Shellstrop Chidi Anagonye Tahani Al-Jamil Jason Mendoza Michael Janet

This is another show I can watch over and over and over. I think Chidi's my favourite but it's hard to be sure. I can tell you I absolutely sobbed during the S3 finale and I was a wreck for the S4 finale. Tug my heartstrings, make me laugh, make me cry, I don't care! I've studied philosophy and despised it so I'll take or leave what you include on that score, I just love the characters. Please include any or all other characters you'd like, but I definitely ship Eleanor/Chidi over Chidi/Simone! Although I'll take angst in that direction too! I don't know, I feel like a kid in a candy store writing this letter: hyper and having trouble deciding between all the possible wonders!

Existential dread? Moments from their human lives? Moments from the good place? Please tell me more about the time knife. Does Michael return to the good place when he dies? Does he reunite with Janet and/or Tahani?

4. Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre Edward Rochester Adele Varens Ship: Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester

This is my favourite classic novel, I reread it every couple of years, most recently in 2020 for Yuletide. My reading of it changes each time, and I increasingly believe that Rochester is more bad guy than good guy and that Jane Eyre lies as a narrator and is as prejudiced and superior as those she crititcises for the same qualities. But I still love her, and that she says she got a happy ending.

Is Rochester more of a villain? How? How does Adele find school, either the one Rochester sends her to, or the one Jane moves her to? Post-canon happiness? Post-canon unhappiness? A scene from the engagement? A missing moment between the non-wedding and Jane running away? What if the wedding wasn't interrupted? (Full disclosure: I'm writing this too.) Canon divergence for, well, anything? Is Adele separated from Sophie? How does that go, how does she manage?

5. Memoirs of a Geisha

Nitta Sayuri Mameha Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Nitta Sayuri/Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Mameha/Matsunaga Tsuneyoshi | The Baron

6. North and South

Margaret Hale John Thornton Hannah Thornton Bessy Higgins Ship: Margaret Hale/John Thornton

7. Stardew Valley

Female Player Sebastian Shane Harvey Robin Elliott Leah Marlon Ship: Shane/Female Player Ship: Sebastian/Female Player Ship: Lewis/Marnie

Do Sebastian and the farmer go on any more bike rides? How did Lewis and Marnie’s relationship start? Are they ever found out? Why does Lewis want to keep it secret? Why is he such an arsehole to Marnie? Tales of the purple shorts. Tell me more about Harvey’s nerdy hobbies or fear of heights? What happened with Robin and Sebastian’s dad? The horrors of the mines, or the skull cavern? Is Leah frightened by the things that go bump in the night near her home? Is Elliott? Some angst or h/c around a wounded farmer, being found/nursed? Or how about some angst/horror in which... they’re not? Fics about the war with the Gotoro Empire?

8. Star Trek: Voyager

Kathryn Janeway Chakotay Tuvok Kes Seven of Nine Naomi Wildman

I’ve been a J/C shipper since before I knew shipping was a thing (as a kid, I had all the two-parters, S5&6, and Resolutions on video. Pre-internet, how did I even know which episode Resolutions one? Shippy magic instinct, I guess?) So apart from that ship, or canonical relationships, I would prefer genfic please. I also don’t mind the other Voyager characters so they’re welcome to make an appearance, but these are the ones that interest me.

9. The West Wing

CJ Cregg Josh Lyman Sam Seaborn Abbey Bartlet Charlie Young Donna Moss Jed Bartlet Leo McGarry Toby Ziegler Zoey Bartlet

Happy writing!

Sobriquett

#dear author letter #16th century rpf #downton abbey #the good place #jane eyre #memoirs of a geisha #north and south #stardew valley #star trek voyager #the west wing #trick or treat exchange

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